Turkey and Black Bean Chili

Chili was the first meal I ever served to friends at my own apartment, and as such, it has a special place in my heart. In my 20s I was a nervous chef. While there is much more to that story, in that phase of my cooking life I was focused on getting the recipe ‘correct’ and hadn’t yet realized I could invent and play around with ingredients and flavors. I give chili some credit for this transformation after many pots with too many jalapenos or not enough salt, but of course always just the right amount of cheese.

Tonight, I used this recipe and learned some new tricks! My hope was to use up several ingredients that I had left over from the week, as well as some beans I pulled out of the freezer that I had made about a month ago when I had a hankering for black bean burgers. Such a comforting meal as we ease into this first weekend of holiday celebrations!

Ingredients:

1 medium onion (1.5 cups)

1 carrot (3/4 cup)

Mini sweet peppers (2 cups)

The original recipe called for bell peppers, but I’d been looking for something fun to cook with these adorable little guys (see picture above).

Spices: garlic, chili powder, cumin, bay leaf and oregano

1 pound of turkey

2 cups of stock

1.5 tablespoons of tomato paste

1 tablespoon of vinegar (I used cider, white was also an option)

30 oz of beans

Steps and Notes:

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the onions, carrots, sweet peppers and a bit of salt. Cook for about 6 minutes.

Add spices

Garlic (2 teaspoons), cumin (1 teaspoon) chili powder (2 tablespoons)

Let this cook into the sauteed veggies for 1 minute

Add the turkey

Stir with a wooden spoon to break down the turkey as it cooks into small bites